General Forum

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Wilsonav — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:46:47 GMT

Superb I get to say my classic Bruce Willis-esque line "I was only doing my job!"

Am glad your faith is not completely lost with Loewe, You may never change your television or you may go along the Bang & Olufsen route........ important thing is your back to situation normal and semi happy............. all good :-)

WAV

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

brunetto77 — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:35:39 GMT

Wav, I'm really impressed by your professional way of dealing with this situation and I wish to thank you again for your kiind interest. I don't want to completely lose my faith in Loewe, as a matter of fact I think I've never lost it. I was also very impressed by the call I received from Patricia Smith. She was trying to rectify the problem in any way and I could feel she was truly concerned about the matter.

As I previously said I'm glad all this ended well and I'll wait a little longer to see what the future has in store!

Bruno

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Medogsfat — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:27:13 GMT

WAV,

I can only offer my sincerest thanks & admiration for the professional way you have offered your help to one of our members. I think Leowe are very lucky to have dealers such as yourself who really take an interest in the brand & upholding its good name. Take a bow & welcome to Beoworld

Chris.

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Wilsonav — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:40:10 GMT

Superb Brunetto, well done and sorry for the hassle you had.

Sounds like Tricia from Loewe Contacted you, she is really cool.

The previous poster is right the sale of goods act is there to protect the store as much as the customer and the store does have the right to rectify any initial problems (please note did not use issues Kokomo ;-)), However you had this one on your side because they sold you an old set when you had ordered the new one. As I said before your timescales sent alarm bells going. You could probably adapt the sale to any one of the three core sale of goods act principles.

1. Item has to be fit for purpose. - Okay maybe nothing on this one

2. Item has to be of merchantable quality. - It was an old set with old sw

3. Item has to be as described. - It was a old set and not new as was stated to you.

Software is a issue any new tech has and it is easily updated, Loewe had a sw issue 3rd quarter last year mainly due to freeview changes but this has been sorted now, A little bit of prep and care in giving the customer what they want ie order a new one, then you would probably be a happy Loewe customer.

Really sorry for your experience, it seems to be retailer based more than Loewe (who offered bigger set and accepted you not wanting it but wanting refund) or equipment (if it was ordered new it would have worked) based.

Kindest Regards

WAV

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Dave — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:24:16 GMT

I'm so glad you got it all sorted out! There's nothing worse (in terms of buying electronics) than buying a faulty item and havin g grief from the dealer!

Now you can put that money towards a B&O screen, whether it be a BV5, BV8, BV10 or BV7 :)

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

brunetto77 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:32:00 GMT

The store finally admitted that the tv was sold without the latest software update and I was given a full refund! I'm very relieved and will keep my Loewe Ergo which still works well!

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Kokomo — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:43:58 GMT

I'm sure others may know more, but it is my understanding that before a refund is given, it is firstly necessary to give a company the opportunity to rectify any fault(s).

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

SKApretto71 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:51:45 GMT

Sad to hear any bad feeling with any product :(

From my personal opinion, you should still try to get support and try a new set from Loewe with proper help and support, prior to refune any other test with them. Bad things happens, and sometime are not fault.

From the refund point of view, in my past experience I had a similar experience with my actual BV3-32 that was not working when delivered to my house, and the dealer refused all my complaints... I had to contact directly B&O to let them change approach and fulfill my requests... and they did it, so just keep trying because you are right in pretend support.

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

brunetto77 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:34:50 GMT

I received a call from Loewe yesterday and the lady was very nice and trying to help with my problem.

She confirmed that the set I got from the store in Edinburgh had been there for some time and was not updated to the latest software.

When I told her that the delivery had been dona but one guy only and that I was not helped with the setting up, she said this was unacceptable. I also had to help the guy twice taking down my other Loewe tv that I was trading in.

I was offered another set even more expensive for the same money I paid but I refused. Unfortunately I lost a bit of faith for Loewe and don't

want to go through the same experience again.

The last time I spoke to the store was two days ago. I was told that they wanted to test the set for faults but now I believe this is irrelevant since I now know that it wasn't updated. Do I have strong chances to get my full refund now in your opinion? The law in the UK states that if the article is not as it was meant to be, the customer can claim an exchange or full refund, provided it's within a reasonable amount of time (usually 30 days). This is regardless what the retailer says about their policy.

As I previously said I just want my money back and carry on with my Ergo 28" for the time being.

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Kokomo — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:03:18 GMT

Sorry to hear of your experience Bruenetto. Hope you get it sorted soon. Well done Wilsonav I think for coming on and offering some assistance.

As an aside, it amuses me how the word 'issues' has now almost universally been adopted as a term in this context when in most cases 'problems' is the most apt!

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

brunetto77 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:57:13 GMT

Thanks Wilsonav, I've sent you an email.

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Wilsonav — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:20:20 GMT

Hi there,

First things first, I am a Loewe store, However I have no interest in touting for sales, I just want to add a opinion from this side of the fence. A couple of issues sent my retail sences tingling!

1. According to previous posts you bought your ART on 7th Jan by 10.00am on 13th Jan you had had the set delivered, installed (by yourself) and a engineer call out to check signal, this time scale does not make sence as all Loewe products always take 7-10 days delivery to store, these do not add together, was this an instock problem model? or ex display model?

2. The trade in promo ended on 31st December officially....... Again this is strange as the dealer gave you trade in deal after new year, the trade in subsidy is only paid on new orders, any new orders after 1st january will not get the subsidy and the margin is not that great on loewe that they could cushion £500 off with no subsidy!

3. Why did the store not set it up and instal it, that is standard practise for most Loewe dealers now, Like Bang & Olufsen they need to be installed by a professional to make sure everything is done right, crux is you should not have been left alone!

4. with your time scales being such that your fault happened immediately and was within 30 days of purchase you should have had a no quibble (great word) swap out from Loewe for a new set from germany, Loewe are fantastic at accomodating this.

5. everything electrical has issues, even Bang & Olufsen sw for beosound 5 BV7 etc etc

If you need relevant phone numbers at Loewe head office then PM me and I can let you know, or if you need another stores input in your locality I know a few good ones so please do contact me, PM or phone me for a chat if you need a personal input!

My comments are no reflection of the dealer (no idea who they are and d to know) they are purely observations, Things just dont add up! Our experience of Loewe is very good, there are occasional issues (as with everything) but for a example, last year we sold just over 350 sets and I would say we had about 10-15 issues max! All of which have been solved by ourselves or by Loewe (who have since last year upped their service support standards to a strict level of quality assurance)...... Mind you we do fully instal all sets, reduced costings or not.

Hope that helps

WAV

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

SWISS_2 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:54:48 GMT

Deja Vu.

I travelled down this legal " road " in 1984, with a store ( not B&O ) in London.

Ultimately my effort was successful, but it required time and patience. I offer some helpful suggestions:

1. Document the entire incident chronologically, starting with the salesperson, and purchase terms. Document the situation right up to the ultimate outcome.

2. Make three copies of your sales receipts, including as mentioned above the television serial numbers. Retain all original contracts and receipts.

3. The 1979 Sale of Goods Act is the ultimate law of the land, so to speak. No store or business can contravene or diminish the terms of this Act by claiming it is against store policy ( A rather flimsy excuse at best ). Sound businesses can of course meet, or exceed this Act of course, with generous terms of reimbursement, and avoid problems ( Few ever do ). You should make a point to see this " store policy of non-refunds " and make a copy.

4. Given the time span of events you have described, you certainly meet the requirement of "quickly responding " to the problem. It happened immediately, and you contacted the store accordingly. Document these facts.

5. My understanding is that the store or seller has the " opportunity " to correct the problem with an equal replacement, or refund. It is then up to the buyer as to how to respond to this offer: Yes, No, or Legal. I chose No, and stood my ground, and I must confess I had the backing of my credit card company in this matter. A full refund did occur, in the short span of a delightful seasonal change from Spring to the Snows of Winter.

All of us at one time or another get burnt by a major product so bad, that in no way are we likely to accept another of the same ilk, however new in the box, as a replacement. Having the same experience, I appreciate this forum allowing you to share the details of this incident. Hopefully it will lead to a correction of the problem and others avoiding the same situation.

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

Flappo The Grate — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:11:04 GMT

couldn't agree more

my avant is STILL staggeringly amazing 7 years later !

as for loewe , i sent one back after 2 days

UTTER UTTER **** compared to bno

they copy bno's designs ( badly ) but have none of their original ideas at all

Re: Loewe and B&O: My dreadful experience

gofer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:09:24 GMT

Sorry to say I had a similar experience with a Loewe Spheros HD DR+ set. The TV would regularly switch itself off and latterly took to switching itself on also!.

The dealer had the set twice for a number of weeks but each time it was returned with a variation on the same fault. Long story short no refund, TV still faulty and Loewe Germany refused to participate in any dialogue. I eventually gave up and put the thing in my cellar out of my sight. I can honestly say this was probably the worst product and customer service experience I have ever had.

Bought a BV7 and after one hiccup which was sorted promptly by a SW update so I am happy. Of course others have had different experiences in the length of time to get their BV7 working properly, so B&O far from perfect as well.